Chapter 75 – Illegal Mana Stones (2)

-A shocking incident occurred this afternoon.

-In the area commonly known as Guild Town, a young boy exploded…

-Police are treating it as a villain-related incident and are reviewing security footage…

A boy who had suddenly caused an explosion.

The news was also broadcasting interviews with witnesses.

-He kept telling me… not to come near him…

-He looked like he was in a lot of pain. He kept staggering.

-As you can see from the obtained CCTV footage, the deceased is unable to properly control his body. The authorities are forming a special investigation team to…

A death in broad daylight.

And it was a young boy’s body, blown apart as if by a bomb.

Witnesses were traumatized by the bizarre event, and voices grew louder, demanding the capture of the perpetrator behind the horrific incident.

-It seems a contaminated mana stone mutated and exploded, just as I thought.

I agreed with the Demon King.

-He’s presumed to be a Gate Orphan.

“And there’s no confirmation of where he was, what he was doing, or what he’d been up to?”

-Right, it’s still under investigation. What’s certain, however, is that the possibility of him being an Awakened is close to zero.

That made sense. One of the reasons contaminated mana stones were found was because the user couldn’t handle them properly.

In fact, the cause of mana stone sickness was the inability to expend the mana stones that formed inside the body without an Awakened ability to do so.

The body overflows with more energy than it can handle, and since it can’t be discharged, it just circulates internally, destroying all the organs.

“Let me know if you find anything.”

-I will. Also, the number of villain sightings has increased lately.

Villain appearances had been on the rise.

-It might be related to the recent increase in the Gate generation rate.

Gates had been spotted more frequently as of late.

If it was this bad in our tiny country, how much of a headache must it be in places with huge landmasses like China or Russia?

-We held a meeting among the top guilds and are planning to operate a vigilante group.

“A vigilante group?”

-Yeah. The land prices around the guilds are about to go up again.

In times like these, when you never knew when a monster might appear, many people wanted to build houses near guilds.

It made sense; they would be the first to receive support.

-In any case, Olivier will contact you if anything comes up.

“Alright.”

After hanging up with the Demon King, I got in my car and drove to my destination.

“Well, hello there. If it isn’t Hunter Lee Hyunbin.”

“Hello, Chairman.”

The man with salt-and-pepper hair standing before me was the chairman of the Hansarang Foundation.

He was a truly respected figure, known for cherishing and caring for children from difficult backgrounds as if they were his own family.

“I should have treated you to a meal by now, Hunter-nim. My apologies.”

“Not at all. I know you’re busy doing good work.”

At my words, the chairman smiled like the very symbol of a good-natured man.

“How about it, Hunter-nim? If you have time today, since we’re on the topic, perhaps we could have a meal.”

“No. Actually, I came today because there was something I was curious about.”

“Curious about something? My goodness, thanks to your frequent donations, we’ve been able to rescue so many children. The number of Gate appearances has suddenly increased lately, hasn’t it? So many unfortunate things are happening.”

The chairman let out a sigh as he lamented.

“Those donations. Are they being used properly?”

“Pardon?”

The chairman blinked as if startled by my question. Then he chuckled, stroking his chin.

“My goodness. Every single one is being used preciously. Of course. If not, I’d deserve a slap on the wrist from you, haha.”

My eyes kept drifting to the wrist of the cheerfully responding chairman.

I was pretty sure that watch was worth as much as a car.

“I’d like to see the donation records.”

“Ah, the newsletter has been delayed lately. Haha, the employee who used to handle it quit. We’re still in the process of hiring a new one, so the accounting on that end hasn’t been processed yet.”

His shoes and belt were high-end, too.

“Ah, I see. Then I suppose I’ll have to see them another time?”

“To reassure the angels of our foundation, I will work to restore our digital systems to normal and get back to you as soon as possible.”

If he says I can’t see them, what can I do? Nothing, I suppose.

“How about it? Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?”

The chairman proposed, looking extremely apologetic.

I gave him a faint smile and declined the offer.

“I think I’ll be a bit busy today.”

* * *

“Fucking bastard. Does he think he’s hot shit just because he’s a Hunter? Did he sniff something out?”

The chairman completely shed the benevolent persona he had just been showing.

He was infuriated that his dinner invitation had been repeatedly rejected.

He immediately made a call.

A few rings.

-Yes, boss!

“Hey, tighten security around the workshop. And pay more attention to the store display.”

Speaking irritably, the chairman frowned as the door suddenly burst open.

*Thud, thud.*

Seeing the unexpected visitor, the chairman was startled. He looked at his phone and said.

“Hey, hey, I’ll call you back in a bit.”

Hurriedly ending the call, the chairman’s face returned to its benevolent expression. He broke into a wide smile and opened his mouth.

“My goodness, Hunter Lee Hyunbin. You’ve returned—!”

*Crack.*

The chairman couldn’t even finish his sentence before a straight punch sent him flying backward with his sofa.

“Keuk! Lee, Lee Hyun… No, what do you think you’re—!”

“I told you.”

Hyunbin’s lips curled up as he continued.

“That I’d be a bit busy today.”

His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were filled with killing intent. Seeing those eyes, the chairman gasped.

They weren’t the eyes of some run-of-the-mill hunter, but those of a true fighter.

* * *

“Ah, fuck, those goddamn pricks. Why the hell are they coming?”

“It’s the weekend, they should be drinking and sleeping, the bastards!”

A man who was an employee of the Hansarang Foundation and managed the orphanage grounds spat out his frustrations.

Today, a kid had exploded from a mana stone in Guild Town.

It was just one insignificant life, but the repercussions were quite large.

An official notice had been delivered, stating that nearby orphanages would be inspected to confirm the identity of the boy, who was known to be a Gate Orphan.

Thanks to that, the panicked staff were cleaning out the orphanage’s basement.

Since the notice had come down, the inspection would arrive in two days at the earliest, a week at the latest.

Nothing good would come from getting caught on a technicality.

“Hey, you brats, clean up faster, will you? We try not to swear, but you make it impossible. We’re doing good work, you know, making an honest living.”

The donations they received were never once used for the children.

If they had been, the clothes the children were wearing wouldn’t be tattered rags.

The children were grimy, having not had a proper bath.

And around each of their necks was a suspicious-looking collar.

The basement they were cleaning and organizing was bathed in a red light, reminiscent of a butcher shop.

Inside, various types of cleavers were lined up.

Further in, there was a room filled with surgical tools, anesthetic solutions, and suspicious storage containers.

“Hey, get the mana stones first! Do you know how much one of those boxes is worth? You could sell all your organs and still not afford one, you bastard!”

The director roared at a clumsy employee.

The staff, used to the director’s daily tirades and knowing what would happen if they even looked at him the wrong way, kept their mouths shut and focused on their work.

The most important mana stones were loaded onto a vehicle, and suspicious boxes were stacked neatly in a truck.

“Hey, you idiot. Get all the kids in the van and move them to the storage warehouse!”

“D-Director, sir. I, uh, don’t know where the storage warehouse is…”

“Ha, seriously. This is why people go on about hiring experienced workers. You bastard, just put the address in the GPS and go!”

The new employee’s face flushed at the director’s bellowing.

The children began to file into the van, one by one.

With dead eyes, the children felt a sense of terror at the sudden flurry of adult activity.

Light.

The young girl, no, Yi-ho, shielded her eyes with her hands from the light she hadn’t seen in so long.

The scent of the forest, which she hadn’t smelled in ages.

The refreshing smell of grass carried on the wind was different from the chemical smell of the basement.

She was being dragged off somewhere again.

Yi-ho’s body trembled.

How she had longed to see the outside. But she knew this brief freedom would vanish even if she reached for it.

Tears fell from Yi-ho’s eyes.

“I-It’ll be o-okay once you get inside.”

The new employee, perhaps feeling sorry for the crying Yi-ho, said.

But Yi-ho didn’t believe him.

A deeper darkness was approaching.

She felt that once she was trapped there, she would never see the light again.

At that moment, the young girl’s eyes slowly widened.

The child refused the new employee’s touch, turned, and stared at someone.

Puzzled by the doll-like, listless child suddenly moving with such vitality, the new employee followed her gaze.

“Huh, what’s that?”

A bear?

No, it wasn’t a real bear.

A man in a bear mascot costume was walking alone toward the orphanage.

“What the hell is that guy? Hey, the event part-timer isn’t scheduled for today. It’s tomorrow, you bastard!”

The director scowled at the sudden appearance of the event company employee.

They occasionally hired event company staff for show when outside visitors came.

It was the event staff who could make the children, who were used as materials, smile, even if just for a little while.

They had urgently requested an event for tomorrow, but these idiots must have gotten the date wrong.

Yi-ho walked slowly.

“Hey, where are you going? You have to get in this van. You’ll get in trouble otherwise.”

Despite the new employee’s attempts to stop her, Yi-ho went from walking to running.

Her body didn’t move properly from being confined for so long, but right now, in this moment, she had to run.

*I can be saved.*

Yi-ho’s fairy was telling her. A trustworthy adult who could save her had come.

Her brother had kept his promise.

She could feel her brother’s fairy from the bear mascot. This person must have been brought by her brother.

Yi-ho remembered her brother, who had secretly left the orphanage at dawn, saying he was going to find an adult who could help.

It was hard not seeing her brother for days, but she endured it, knowing that if she could get out of here, they could be together forever.

“What the—grab her!”

Yi-ho ran to the bear mascot she had never seen before and hugged it.

The child, who barely came up past the mascot’s knee, began to tremble violently.

She had been fine until now, but the sudden thought that she might be saved made her body shake.

“Right, this must be the place.”

The bear mascot muttered to itself.

Yi-ho looked up at the bear mascot.

In the bear mascot’s hand was her brother’s fairy, shattered.

If it was broken like that…

Yi-ho finally understood.

Her brother had kept his promise, but he couldn’t come back.

“Hello, I’m Mr. Bear.”

The bear mascot waved both hands in an exaggerated gesture.

Even as the scary adults approached with demonic faces, the bear mascot seemed cheerful, as if there was no problem at all.

“Store.”

A light emanated from Yi-ho’s body, and she disappeared into a Hexa Block.

“Hey, you bastard. I told you it’s not today. What the—where’d she go?”

The bear mascot muttered under its breath.

“I came to see how my money was being spent.”